Advocates for Youth mourns the passing of Representative Elijah E. Cummings, Maryland Congressman and long time champion of young people’s reproductive and sexual health and rights. Throughout his career, Rep. Cummings spoke out for sex education, contraceptive access, and the right to safe and legal abortion.

Today, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed the College Student Right to Access, or Senate Bill 24 by Senator Connie Leyva (D-Chino). Advocates for Youth celebrates the signing of this historic bill that removes barriers to abortion access for young people by mandating all California public universities provide medication abortion, a simple two-pill procedure to safely terminate pregnancy, at their campus health centers.

The young people we work with are forced to live in a culture of hate which continues churning poisonous rhetoric and making our world unsafe. Though youth are leading the movement to end white supremacy and gun violence, their efforts are thwarted by politicians and pundits who treat human beings as expendable.